Many sports and educational institutions fly the Rainbow flag now. Even some Catholic pastors have participated in flying it. I believe we are entering into an era that will see many Catholics having to choose between being faithful to the Church of Christ or supporting state-sponsored gay rights.

One hundred years ago another agenda was forced upon many Christian societies and it was called Communism. Unfortunately, anyone under forty doesn't understand what Communism in the former Soviet Union (and currently in China) took away from millions of people—freedom to practice religion. When Communism rose to power, many fell for slogans that soon enslaved them.

The early Communists were a sympathetic bunch who seduced many people with a red flag. Today the LGBT+ rainbow flag is seducing the young. The red flag of Communism began as a symbol for workers' rights and ended as a symbol of state power and world dominance over religion. Communism tried to replace God with the promise of equality between the classes. The rainbow flag promises equality for people who reject religious sexual mores.

Gay rights began as tolerance in the workplace but will end in outlawing religions that teach chastity. This is why we see such a battle right now inside the Catholic Church which has not spoken of chastity effectively. Sexual pleasure has become a right rather than a privilege.

Some may argue that the rainbow flag is a sign of tolerance. Yet, the LGBT+ community doesn't just want to achieve tolerance, which it now has for the most part, but continues to push for dominance.

No one had the right to believe in God in the Soviet Union to ensure the state controlled all power. Since the Catholic faith preaches chastity, the gay activists will follow the Communist rise to power by eliminating the right to practice religion. How? Through laws.

Hate speech laws are being passed at such a rapid pace no one understands what this means for other competing rights. A mother in the United Kingdom ended up in jail because she stated on social media men cannot become women because they were born men biologically. A transgender lawyer (people in power) called the police.

Most LGBT+ groups support abortion-on-demand. The same argument used to end anti-sodomy laws was used to allow abortion, a right to privacy. LGBT+ groups seek to regulate In Vitro Fertilization procedures to make becoming a parent a right for them. For example, Virginia just passed a new surrogacy law that allows a LGBT+ couple to demand a woman paid to carry their child to undergo selective reductions (forced abortions). LGBT+ rights groups are celebrating the law.

The biggest threat presently to religious believers is the Equality Act that Speaker Pelosi vows to pass. What the Equality Act will do is treat LGBT+ people as a protected class--like people with physical disabilities.

This bill will potentially punish Catholic businesses who want to support traditional marriage (unless a religous exemption is included). It will lead to many lawsuits and force Catholics to accept the gay lifestyle or be fined. Recall the Little Sisters of the Poor and the HHS mandate, which is a lesson to how laws like the Equality Act will be enforced if enacted. The Little Sisters had to file a lawsuit and are still fighting to retain their religious freedoms.

If the Equality Act passes, most likely Catholic schools would be faced with the choice of employing openly gay married teachers or closing. Catholic hospitals would be forced to provide gay couples IVF treatments and forced abortions when there are too many implanted embryos so they retain the right to have children. Already, Catholic adoption agencies have closed rather than follow gay rights state laws that do not have religious exemptions.

We know how recent LGBT+ bathroom bills treat straight students' concerns. Objecting students have to file lawsuits which are making their way to the Supreme Court. Imagine what will happen to public school bathrooms and shower rooms if Congress passes the Equality Act.

Can anyone imagine schools flying the Vatican flag to show support for their Catholic students like they do the rainbow flag (in Canada) for gay students?

People forget that the gay rights movement began by throwing condoms at Cardinal John O'Connor. LGBT+ activists desecrated the Eucharist in 1989. We must never forget they don't respect our faith or our rights.

Catholics have been discriminated against for many years. My own father witnessed a KKK cross burning, set ablaze to frighten the Catholic Eastern Europeans who mined coal. I suppose in those days people didn't scream for equal rights, but they voted for the right to practice their faith in large numbers. Now Catholics don't seem to understand that laws mean things. Why do the LGBT+ groups ask for and get laws that close Catholic adoption agencies?

Leaders in business and politics must understand there is a cost to supporting gay rights which infringe on Catholics' rights. Letter writing and phoning businesses and politicians to ask them to support our right to practice our Catholic faith is vital to saving our religious freedom. We must never forget that rights are only retained when we keep vigilant. Making noise matters because those wheels get greased. We can't sit back and say nothing while the rainbow flag replaces the red flag.

A long time ago I thought I was a writer. Because my parents were practical, I went into teaching. About five years ago, I began to write again. So here I am.

I hold a B.S. degree in Elementary Education from Penn State University (University Park). I enjoy gardening, reading, Pittsburgh sports, and cooking, but not in that order. My regular job is being a wife and mother. My novella, The Clown, was a Staff Pick on Write On by Kindle and is available as an eBook. My fiction may be found at: http://emmccarthy.weebly.com/